Today, and for the next month, four major planets are aligned above us: Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Are we interested? Of course we are. From the very beginning of human history we’ve been obsessed…
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Four planets – Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus – will be aligned at dawn tomorrow. What does this mean? Should we be running for the hills? You’d be forgiven for thinking so. A search on Google or YouTube…
The post-budget political rhetoric to me reinforces the underlying, ongoing, disdain that this, and indeed many previous, governments have for science-related matters in Australia. Minister Carr is reported…
So, Microsoft has announced it will buy Skype in a US$8.5 billion move that has left the technology and business worlds puzzled. Owners of Microsoft shares might be most puzzled of all, maybe even tearing…
Microsoft’s US$8.5 billion Skype acquisition, announced yesterday, gives the US software developer a golden opportunity to expand its business via the internet, including accessing and leveraging the rapidly…
New technology about to be released by Microsoft has the potential to revolutionise workplace meetings, removing the need to “be” anywhere for those all-important face-to-face encounters. If you believe…
Samoa’s prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has announced plans to shift the International Date Line to the east – a move that will see the Pacific nation divided from its near neighbour, American…
Low purity and scarcity is driving down the popularity of ecstasy among regular users but more are using new synthetic party drugs such as BZP and mephedrone, according to a new report. An annual survey…
It’s well known that humans are living longer than ever before, thanks partially to developments such as sanitation and modern medicine. But will it ever be possible for humans to live forever? The late…
A couple of facts: 1) At least 10% of the world’s population are “needle phobic”, which means they’re missing out on being vaccinated and/or have a horror of receiving jabs of any kind. Several studies…
By now we’re used to the idea that the world has four dimensions: three spatial and one temporal. But what if there were a fifth dimension – what would that dimension look like, and how would it relate…
It has been reported that Osama bin Laden’s hard drives have been seized, hard drives that could conceivably contain information regarding the membership, funding and future plans of al-Qaeda. Information…
When the AFL has a weekend of inaccurate goal-kicking, media attention invariably turns to why set-shot goal-kicking hasn’t improved while other areas of footy have. As a footy fan, I have an interest…
Some people have argued that Pi’s days are numbered and that other tools, such as tau, could do its job more efficiently. As someone who has studied Pi throughout his entire working life, my response to…
I’d like to respond to a recent article for The Conversation by Martin Sevior, an active scientist and church leader. Sevior argues that – apart from fundamentalism – science and religion are complementary…
As an environmental scientist, I am a: Biologist Geologist Ecologist Physicist Chemist Soil Scientist Sociologist Psychologist Anthropologist Economist Political Scientist Teacher Communicator and nature…
Scientists have pinpointed a new link between a particular gene and a rare form of dwarfism, opening the door to prenatal testing and paving the way for new approaches to treating common diseases such…
It has been a lousy few weeks for technology companies when it comes to maintaining both the privacy and confidence of their customers. In the last few days, Sony had admitted a recent security breach…
The Space Shuttle Endeavour, one of the most complex machines ever created, is about to take its last trip into space. But not just yet. The countdown to Endeavour’s final flight began a few days ago…
Where were you when you heard about Osama bin Laden’s death? Increasingly, the answer to this and similar questions may be, “I was on Twitter.” From the “inland tsunami” washing down Queensland’s Lockyer…
You know, it’s odd being a rocket scientist. The people you meet assume you’re not just smart, but some super-colossal paragon of intelligence with the wits of an atomic lovechild of Albert Einstein and…
Infertility plagues one in six Australian couples, and in approximately half of these cases the problem lies in poor semen quality. The discovery that a man has poor semen quality can be emotionally challenging…
With global warming, carbon trading and record-high petrol prices in the news, not to mention the ever-looming spectre of peak oil, we need to find an environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable…
Economists and physicists may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but then opposites often attract. Their union has recently produced a peculiar baby, a field of research known as “econophysics”. Physicists…
When art and science come together, the relationship tends to be uneven, and too often art becomes the unintended junior partner. As researchers working at the interface between art and science, we have…